Method and apparatus for defining the scope of a CORBAservices factory finder

Abstract

A method and apparatus for controlling a scope of location for a FactoryFinder object used by a program to find a factory object which is used to create another object in an object-oriented system. The scope of location may be a specific machine, all machines within a work group, all object server processes running under a particular operating system, etc. An abstract location interface is provided which is subclassed to provide a location object. The location object provides methods for returning a list of servers, for returning a boolean value of TRUE or FALSE for a specific server, and for creating a new location object and registering servers that result from an intersection/union of the servers registered with the current location and another location.

What we claim is: 
     
       1. A method, implemented in a computer system, for creating an interface for defining the scope for searches for object factories in an object oriented environment, comprising the steps of: defining an abstract location object in said object oriented environment;   defining a location subclass of said abstract object having implementation logic for server representations in said object oriented environment; and   associating a plurality of servers in said object oriented environment with said location subclass to set the scope of location for searches for factory objects.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating a plurality of servers comprises the step of: registering said plurality of servers with said location subclass.   
     
     
       3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating a plurality of servers comprises the step of: registering a subclass with a selected FactoryFinder object to set the scope of said FactoryFinder.   
     
     
       4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of defining an abstract location object further comprises the step of: defining a location object having a listing mechanism for said plurality of servers in said object oriented environment.   
     
     
       5. An apparatus for creating an interface for defining the scope for searches for object factories in an object oriented environment, comprising: means for defining an abstract location object in said object oriented environment;   means for defining a location subclass of said abstract object having implementation logic for server representations in said object oriented environment; and   means for associating a plurality of servers in said object oriented environment with said location subclass to set the scope of location for searches for factory objects.   
     
     
       6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for associating a plurality of servers comprises: means for registering said plurality of servers with said location subclass.   
     
     
       7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for associating a plurality of servers comprises: means for registering said subclass with a selected FactoryFinder object to set the scope of said FactoryFinder.   
     
     
       8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for defining an abstract location object further comprises: means for defining a location object having a listing mechanism for said plurality of servers in said object oriented environment.   
     
     
       9. A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for creating an interface for defining the scope for searches for object factories in an object oriented environment, comprising: computer readable means for defining an abstract location object in said object oriented environment;   computer readable means for defining a location subclass of said abstract object having implementation logic for server representations in said object oriented environment; and   computer readable means for associating a plurality of servers in said object oriented environment with said location subclass to set the scope of location for searches for factory objects.   
     
     
       10. The computer program of claim 9, wherein the computer readable means for associating a plurality of servers comprises: computer readable means for registering said plurality of servers with said location subclass.   
     
     
       11. The computer program of claim 9, wherein the computer readable means for associating a plurality of servers comprises: computer readable means for registering said subclass with a selected FactoryFinder object to set the scope of said FactoryFinder object.   
     
     
       12. The computer program of claim 9, wherein the computer readable means for defining an abstract location object further comprises: computer readable means for defining a location object having a listing mechanism for said plurality of servers in said object oriented environment.